The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Congress to condemn Israel’s torture of prisoners and bulldozing and targeting of United Nations facilities serving Palestinian refugees in illegally-occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, calling them a “continuation of ethnic cleansing” and flagrant violations of international law.
Israel began bulldozing buildings at the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood on Tuesday, marking a dramatic escalation in Israel’s ongoing crackdown on the UN agency responsible for humanitarian aid and services to millions of Palestinian refugees. The demolition followed a broader campaign of restrictions against UNRWA and other organizations serving Palestinians.
Israeli forces also fired tear gas at a vocational school in Qalandia.
CAIR also noted that a new report by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem showing that thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are enduring “a systemic, institutionalized policy of torture and abuse” adds even more evidence of Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide.
SEE: B’Tselem says at least 84 Palestinians killed in Israeli torture camps
In a statement, CAIR said:
“What we are witnessing is a continuation of the systematic erasure of Palestinian presence and rights in their homeland. Bulldozing United Nations facilities that provide critical humanitarian services, along with the torture and abuse of prisoners, amount to a form of ethnic cleansing and are an aspect of the ongoing Israeli genocide. These acts jeopardize essential aid and deepen the humanitarian crisis for millions of civilians already struggling under occupation.”
“We urge Congress, the Trump administration and the international community to denounce the demolitions and press for the protection of humanitarian infrastructure and respect for international legal obligations.”
END
CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com